FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT HISTORY - PAGE 2

The Broward Sheriff's Office is looking for help solving its oldest case: uncovering the agency's own 100-year history. The office was formed when the county incorporated in 1915 and there have since been 16 sheriffs - but no official historian. As BSO prepares for its centennial celebration kicking off Jan. 1, 2015, it's asking former and current employees, and the general public, to share sheriff's memorabilia, patches, badges and old photographs to help fill in the historical gaps.

Florida's financial history is being celebrated with a new website as the state observes its 500th birthday. The interactive, online application at MyFloridaCFO.com/YMM tracks the growth of the state's transportation, agriculture, tourism and technology. It highlights some of the people and events that drove Florida's economic growth, from Ponce de Leon first discovering “the land of flowers” in 1519 to Apollo 11 launching from the Kennedy Space Center. “We have many reasons to celebrate our rich history and the remarkable people, events and inventions that all led to what makes Florida great today and set us on a path for tremendous economic success in the future," said Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater.

Today we honor Presidents' Day — a deliberately vague holiday that fails to distinguish between Presidents Lincoln and Fillmore. So who's teaching about presidents? You'd think that higher education in our democracy would lead the way in the sophisticated study of American ideas and institutions. Quite the contrary: American schools have relegated American history to the dust bin of history. According to What Will They Learn?, a national survey of over 700 college general education requirements, fewer than 20 percent of schools require a class in U.S. history or government.

The Delray Beach City Commission welcomed a new member to the dais Thursday when Commissioner-elect Al Jacquet was sworn in. Commissioner Angeleta Gray, who was re-elected in March, was also sworn in a standing-room-only commission chambers. The ceremony was historic in that it's the first time in the city's 100-year history that two black commissioners will sit on the dais at the same time. Jacquet, 32, is the first black commissioner in Delray Beach to hold a seat other than Seat 4, now held by Gray.

New tax breaks are in the works for history buffs willing to invest in the past. A new ordinance that city staff members are working on would mean incentives for owners of property that is locally designated as historic. If the City Council approves, it would mean owners wouldn't have to pay city or county taxes for 10 years on any value added by improvements they do. And it could also mean Boca could tap into a pot of $100,000 in federal money that's distributed throughout the state to help preserve historic homes and neighborhoods.

John R. Smith's warning to tea party activists to avoid extreme populist rhetoric is well-taken. Similar extremist takeovers of third-party political movements reacting to economic problems of the past, such as the nativist know-nothings of the 1840s and the Chinese exclusionists of the 1880s, not to mention the anti-Semitic followers of Father Coughlin's Depression-era radio rants, poisoned otherwise healthy political prospects. However, I would caution Mr. Smith against similar populist oversimplifications of U.S. political history.